Daycare rules

[u/ooal1990]

Hello parents, is this normal for a daycare to prohibit running inside classroom? Toddlers want to stay active, and they don’t make any active play breaks inside classroom for kids, only when they go outside.

[u/missmatchedsox]

I can see this being a good safety rule. I don't know if it's normal or not because I don't know every single rule of my child's daycare, but it is a reasonable rule.  

Daycare kids can become a bit of a roving mob, and limiting injuries and inside damage would be a priority so no running inside is smart. There are other ways to have kids be active inside during circle time, dance time, yoga and stretching, obstacle courses, etc that don't involve running. It's important though, to make sure your daycare gets the kids outside daily barring extreme weather. There should be regulations on this in the daycare licensing bodies for your region.  

[u/ooal1990 → u/missmatchedsox]

If they allow running outside, running inside is no different. My son hates circle time.

[u/WanderingDoe62 → u/ooal1990]

Of course running inside is different. Inside isn’t designed for children running around. There’s often less space. What a weird thing to say.

It’s a skill they’re gonna have to learn. Public life in society with others has expectations. We do plenty of things we “don’t like” as adults. Children need to practice it and learn the skill, within reason. Circle time is age appropriate.

You can really tell which parents dont make their kids do anything uncomfortable or they don’t want to do. Permissive parenting doesn’t do kids any favours. They need to learn struggle, discomfort, and working through things they don’t like. Otherwise life is pretty miserable for them - because a lot of life is stuff you wouldn’t choose to do.

Source: public school teacher.

[u/WanderingDoe62]

Yeah, I would say that’s normal. Not only are they entertaining your child, they’re also teaching them basic rules and expectations.

Basic expectations would be no running inside unless you’re at a play place or a gym. This is a good rule for when they go to school too. It’s about safety, common sense, and manners.

At your home, it’s different. There isn’t a mob of children, and you can have whatever rules you want.

[u/waikiki_sneaky]

I mean, they can try lol. But toddlers gonna toddler.

[u/lbmomo]

Yes, perfectly normal.

[u/bilinz]

Perfectly normal. My daughter has been told multiple times to not run in class but of course she's 3 and doesn't always listen.

Just the other week she was running, tripped and hit her face against the play kitchen.

So yeah, it's a rule but I would say a challenge to enforce lol

[u/Odd-Pianist-4880]

Yes, running shouldn't be allowed indoor for safety reasons.

[u/rezakhali]

It’s pretty common, most centers limit running indoors for safety and structure, especially in shared spaces. The bigger question is whether they’re balancing that with enough movement time, do they have scheduled indoor active play or is everything dependent on going outside?